How can my home be more sustainable? Southern vernacular building techniques are based on sustainable principles which we continue to use today.

The best management practice is to collect and store the rainwater for reuse or slow infiltration. There are two options for collecting rainwater; either a rain barrel or a cistern. Both are connected to your gutters and downspouts. A rainbarrel is used to collect water for use in your garden. Be sure that the rainbarrel has a cover so that it is not a mosquito nursery. A cistern is larger and is the storage tank portion in a complete rainwater harvesting system that filters and stores water for any normal household use. If the water is to be used for potable needs it must go through additional filtration and water purification.

Katherine Kokal of the Island Packet recently reported that Beaufort County ranks number one in the United States for climate change risks.

This assessment came from the data from the Rhodium Group and was analyzed by ProPublica and the New York Times Magazine. Beaufort County tops their chart of the risk caused by compounding calamities, including heat, wet bulb (how heat and humidity collide), farm crop yields, sea level rise, and economic damage.

Almost every month there are variance requests before the Beaufort County Zoning Board of Appeals for waterfront buffer setbacks. It seems that many of the applicants do not understand the intent and importance of riparian buffers.

A riparian buffer is the land bordering waterways characterized by a cover of naturally occurring vegetation consisting of trees, shrubs, and native grasses.

In the lowcountry, flooding is a major concern. New structures are required to be elevated above the base flood elevation if they are in a flood zone. Base flood elevations are reevaluated periodically, so an older home may be below the flood elevation and subject to FEMA’s 50% Rule. A surveyor can determine the flood zone the house is located in and provide an elevation certificate to verify that the building is properly elevated.